The game of life: Roy Walker III was a dedicated dad, youth coach

A salute to people with Oklahoma ties who enjoyed the game day experience:

*Roy Walker III spent 22 years working for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and Oklahoma Tax Commission. Otherwise, Walker was all about sports that dated back to his days as a football player for Putnam City High School.

He attended Oklahoma State, where he was a cheerleader and member of the Wild Bunch spirit group. As a father to Dustin and twins Rosty and Mindy, Roy invested his life's free time a volunteer youth coach in baseball, soccer, softball, football and wrestling. He was a member of the Satellite Athletic Association, Northwest Optimist Sports, Putnam City North Wrestling Booster Club and Oklahoma Open wrestling tournament committee. He was a volunteer worker at the Big 12 Wrestling Tournament and a referee for USA Wrestling.

Walker's dedication to his children's sports helped lead to Dustin and Rosty wrestling for the Oklahoma Sooners and Mindi earning All-America honors as a soccer player at Oklahoma City University.

Roy Walker III died Oct. 27 at age 59.

*Tommy Stephens played basketball and football at Classen High School in the 1940s. He was the starting left tackle for the football team, which won Oklahoma's first official state championship on Dec. 16, 1944. The Oklahoman reported that behind superior speed and strength, Classen whipped Tulsa Central 26-6 before 8,000 fans at Skelly Stadium. Stephens and teammates were treated to a steak dinner after the game, then boarded the bus for the trip back to Oklahoma City. The Comets were welcomed home by students who lined the sidewalks behind the school. Stephens went into the family business — Stephens Products Co. — and retired after 30 years. The state champion football player died at age 84 in Sun City West, Ariz.

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We don't have pop up video on NewsOK.com. If we did, here are a few tidbits about our sports staff that you would see in the quote bubble:

*Assistant sports editor Hayley Riggs, who is charge of page designers and copy editors, was a National Merit Scholar. Her family owned a hardware business in Roland.

*Web editor Lindsay Houts is from the Bay Area in California. She is a fan of the Oakland A's and San Francisco 49ers. Houts attended Azusa Pacific University.

*Phillip Baeza, who often designs the sports section's front page, served in the U.S. Marines as a jet engine mechanic. He attended the University of Houston.

*Mike Baldwin is a 35-year veteran with The Oklahoman Sports Department. A huge Kansas City Royals fan, through thick and thin. Used to be the sports information director at Oklahoma Christian University, then known as OCC.